Easter Eggstravaganza

Not blogging for over a month leaves me with a lot to catch up on. While I'm sure it made Kel happy, I know of at least one person who could use an update or two on the boys (Sorry Nana!). I had every intention of starting with March, but this past weekend the boys' participated in an egg hunt and those are the pictures that I'm editing right now, so that's where I will start.

Apparently every year, or at least the last few years, a neighboring town holds an Easter Egg hunt complete with moon bouncers, pony rides, games, and live entertainment. Last Saturday, the boys and I joined my cousins and neices' at the hunt. Although the weather was somewhat gloomy, and rain threatened, it was a lot of fun.

C, D, and H made a beeline for the jumpy slide. They stayed there for thirty minutes, until I finally convinced them to check out another bouncer.

We tried the pony ride next. D had been on a pony once, when he was about sixteen months old and cried the entire time, and C had never been near a horse, let alone on one. They seemed excited, and even walked up to a horse. But the minute I tried to put C ON the horse he started screaming. I didn't want to force him, nor traumatize the horse, so I resorted to bribing. I asked him if he wanted to be Woody and ride Bullseye. He said yes and started looking around for a toy horse. When I tried to put him on the horse, he started screaming again and said ,"No Woody!" We quickly moved onto the next activity and the main event.

Hunting for eggs.

C and I waited while D had his fun. I don't think he liked the straw, because he just found a spot that had a lot of eggs and sat there to gather what he could reach. There was a golden egg hidden, but D said that he wasn't interested in finding it. So he gathered as many eggs as he could fit in his bucket and then we went to let C have his hunt.

C did awesome. He was in the two and under hunt, and when we went there were only two younger kids in the area. So he pretty much had the space to himself. Until the Easter Bunny decided to join him. I don't think I ever saw C move so fast as he did. He even abandoned his Easter pail to hide behind me. I had to tell the poor Easter Bunny to stay away because C was scared and I wanted to let him finish his hunt. I think I pissed off the lady from the newspaper who was trying to take pictures. Oh well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After you hunt for eggs, you take your findings to the volunteers to exchange for a prize. D decided that a mini camera would be cool while C went with a blue bouncy ball. Since we were around him, I had D take a picture with the Easter Bunny while C hid behind my legs. I really don't know why he's so scared, and I don't know how to help him get over his fear, but I'm not going to push him. I'm really hoping this is something that he'll grow out of eventually.

 

 

After a quick break of hot dogs and watching a man jump through a lasso, the boy's decided to play games so that they could win some candy and prizes. Golf, bean bag toss, fishing, find the duck with an X, and pick a lollipop were our favorites

By the time we were done with our games, M was ready to go home. At the same time, K and M joined us with M and M. It was nice to see them for a few minutes, especially since I got to see C interact with the girls again. Previously, whenever C was near M, M, and Z he didn't play nicely. Especially when I was the main caregiver at the time. I know he was jealous, and I tried to give him extra one on one attention, but it didn't help while the girls where around. But Saturday must have been a good day for C, or he's gotten over his jealousy, because he was very loving and very sweet towards the girls. I was sad to have to break it up, but it was time for us to leave. We had an awesome time and I hope I remember to do it again next year!

 

Mission: Visit All Parks In the Our City

On New Year's Eve D told me that he wanted to "visit all the parks everywhere." I told him that while I'm not sure we'd be able to go to every single park in the world, we can start smaller and go to all of the parks in our town. In January we crossed three off of our list.

Kel found one a few blocks away, and it instantly became our favorite.

I found one within walking distance of our house. Which is convenient since I don't have a car (yet). The boys seem to enjoy it for about forty minutes and then become bored.

 

The third park is really nice, but it scares the crap out of me. Well, the main slide scares me. It's so high, and C is completely fearless. This is a park that I will make sure another adult is with me so that one of us can follow C around to make sure he stays out of trouble.

For the month of February, so far we have only been to one new park. It has been completely remodeled since I last visited it, and while the new playground is more engaging, I miss the dragon that used to be there.

So the boys and I have been to 4 out of the 47 parks that are in our city. Although I will need to look into some of the "parks" and see if they have actual playgrounds.

An Update of Sorts

Wow.

Today, my blog is a year old.

Wow.

My last post was almost a month ago.

Which really isn't all that long in between posts but it seems like a lot has happened. The first is that I'm extremely surprised that I've been blogging for a whole year. I know a lot of that has to do with the camera I bought last year, because let's face it a post without pictures is sort of boring. And I don't like using pictures taken by my phone because they never turn out right (I finally got a new phone so maybe that'll change). So if I don't have pictures to break up my ramblings then I usually don't blog.

Anyway...

Kel and I have come to the conclusion that January sucks. Sure our birthdays are a week apart, and there are a few family members who also have birthdays. But overall, January sucks. Twenty years ago my mom passed away from Breast Cancer. Eighteen years ago was the Northridge Earthquake. Six years ago Kel lost his Grandfather.

Kel's dad passed away this year on January 19 after a short battle with Colon Cancer.

February 4 was his celebration of life and it was... grand. Amazing. Huge. And yet, incredibly heartbreaking at the same time. The amount of lives that he has touched was evident in the standing room only service that was held. It was beautiful and very fitting for the man that he was. This was one thing that I did not want to have in common with Kel for a long, long time.

Hmm... let's see what else....

C has been giving me a run for my money.

He had tubes placed in his ears last Friday. Nervous was an understatement on what I was feeling when I woke up that morning. When I handed him over to the nurse, screaming because I couldn't go with him, so that the anesthesia could be administered. But I was so ready for him to have them so that we can work on his speech, keep him healthy, and let him hear sounds normally rather than hearing things like he's under water. Kel still doesn't want C to have them, and has been reminding me of that since three minutes before C went in for the surgery. But C needs them. A few nights before surgery,  C had a fever of 102 and kept grabbing his head and saying "owie". Rather than rush him into the doctor as usual, I just gave him Tylenol and his ear drops and watched him throughout the night. He seemed ok the next day, although a little more grouchy than usual. Although his ears where "perfect" on the Wednesday prior to surgery, when the doctor placed the tubes, the left ear was infected and starting to pus and the right ear had fluid which just goes to show that C needs these tubes. Here's hoping that they stay in long enough to help him, and we won't have to go through surgery again. While C has been a major grouch this weekend and his sleep is almost non existent, it is nice to be able to tell him to say something and have him repeat it back. My favorite saying is "I yuf D."

Which brings me to D. Oh my D, where to begin. I'm so sorry that I passed my flu bug to you Buddy. That was a miserable twenty four hours that seem to have extended far beyond what I feel comfortable with. We spent the morning of Kel's birthday in the emergency room with an I.V. for dehydration and an ultrasound to verify that he didn't have appendicitis. Thank God he didn't, but I'm still left without answers. The first week of February was bad. So bad that he was seen by both the urgent care and the emergency room within a twenty four hour period. The doctor in the emergency room recommended to cut milk completely out of his diet (no milk for his cereal poor dude) as he may have developed an intolerance to lactose and that we may need to see a specialist. I was lucky and was able to squeeze him into an appointment right after C's and while she said that his stomach sounded fine and we should wait two weeks before we start to reintroduce milk to verify whether or not he is lactose intolerent, she stated that she detected a heart murmur. Which could mean nothing or it could mean something, but we go back in the beginning of April for her to verify whether or not the murmur is still there and to have his physical for school. I've decided at this point that I'm not going to worry until I know for sure that there is something to worry about.

Speaking of having a school physical...

D will be turning five this June. Which means he will be starting kindergarten this August. Which means that this month is spent trying to get him into our school of choice or one of the fundamental schools that are in town. On the 8th, Kel and I attended a mandatory parent meeting for the fundamental school so that we could get D into the lottery for the school. While it was very informative, it made us question whether or not this was the right school for D. The main difference between a normal public school and the fundamental school is the speed in which they teach and the depth in which they delve into each subject. It is a good school. It would be something that we'd make an adjustment for, if it is the best choice for D. But I also want D to enjoy school. I don't want him to be so overwhelmed that he dreads going to school, and that is the feeling that Kel and I got from this meeting. There are other schools in my town that are right on the heels of the fundamental school in terms of the API score and if he gets into one of them then we may decline the spot at the fundamental school. If he gets it. Which I'll find out either tomorrow or Wednesday.

So that's what we've been up to for the past month and a half. It's been busy, it's been sad, but for the most part it's been relatively normal around the Clark-Walker household.